In which your average Jane works to eat, live, and become more environmentally and socially friendly.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Backyard Bucket Garden

I started on my Global Bucket system today! I'm undertaking these as an experiment in urban gardening, though I live in a semi-rural area and could grow in ground if I wanted to. My thought guidelines for this are as follows:

1)Is it small enough that it could work on an apartment patio, assuming enough sun?

2)Is it easy for a busy person (like me!) to maintain during work and school without much bother?

The two buckets together

3)Is it aesthetic enough that apartment neighbors wouldn't complain?

4)Is it easy to make?

For containers, I opted to use plastic cat litter buckets instead of buying new buckets. Because having a patio covered in "Tidy Cat" logos didn't appeal, I used plastic spray paint to cover the logos and make them a pretty color. When using the spray paint, be sure to be about fifteen feet from anything you love the color it is, lay the buckets on copious newspaper, and don't flip them until your finger doesn't leave a print in the paint.

Interior view.

Home Depot supplied some PVC pipe, and I had leftover red cups from a party. Using a drill, I added drainage holes and holes for the PVC and plastic cup.

All I need to finish it is to decide with what to fill it. Global Buckets says to use moss, vermiculite, and perlite, commonly found in potting soil, and not to use compost because it won't wick water. Now, I want to see if there is a way to wick water along with using potting soil. Compost is not only free because it's made of vegetable scraps and green waste, making the vegetables grown sustain themselves, but they're also better for the soil than chemical fertilizers. This will probably get a blog post of its own, since I could talk about it for a while.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Go Green!

This blog aims to run the gamut - food, clothes, actions, ways to get involved, plants, lifestyle changes, and products. We all can make changes in how we live to make less of an impact on the planet and global society. What are yours?

We no longer update regularly, but please feel free to look around and post any comments or questions you have.

I sometimes review products and books - rest assured, I do not get any compensation from the people who make these products. I review them because I wanted to see if and how they worked, or because I liked the book and thought it was useful.